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The Moo-dy Restaurant

We’ve all been there; written a text to a friend moaning about another friend, but accidentally sending it to the wrong person. Or maybe you’ve sent an email at work moaning about a colleague, but accidentally sent to all?!

Moments like these make you want to cringe into oblivion, sell your house and move to a desert island. But there’s no going back in the digital world; your footprint is there forever and you must live with any negative consequences.

One hospitality venue has recently suffered from a serious case of ‘recipient error’ and is fully recoiling into a shell to hide from the media storm going on around it.

In the hospitality industry, it goes without saying that you should remain pleasant under pressure and go about your day in a polite and friendly manor. Most of your guests are relaxed, on holiday and enjoying some well-deserved down time. They’ve chosen to truly unwind in your establishment, which is a compliment.

However, we’re all human so there are days when guests, customers or clients will rub you the wrong way, but as a member of staff you should certainly be leaving the bitching and moaning until you get home – for your poor partner to endure.

These days, poor service = a poor Trip Advisor review. And as Lloyd discussed in his blog earlier this week, Trip Advisor is both a blessing and a curse for those in the hospitality industry. When you receive a review which says, “the customer service we have received is awful, disgusting and disrespectful”, there's a chance it could pique the attention of the media…and potentially go worldwide it seems.

The negative review in question is for The Mulberry Tree restaurant. Bride-to-be, Jade Sharp, visited the venue with her fiancé in the hope of booking it out for their wedding day reception.

However, following a series of unanswered questions and small mishaps during the visit, Miss Sharp emailed the manager to express her disappointment. A couple of hours later Jade received a reply, although one clearly not intended for her inbox.

A member of staff has responded to Jade’s email labelling her “a cow” and moaned about how annoyed they were that the happy couple had asked how much it would cost for bread rolls with their meal stating her belief that it wasn’t the right venue for them.

It was this unfortunate and somewhat inexcusable email that resulted in the one star review of the restaurant on Trip Advisor. In fact, it prompted many others who read about this story in the press to leave their own negative feedback in support of Miss Sharp. One reviewer even stated: “so bad, even America knows about it” and went on to explain the “crappy little establishment’ had been featured in the US media.

It just goes to show the power of the internet and how one negative review can bring the masses together to fight the corner of the customer. I bet the restaurant worker behind the email never expected a small-scale global PR disaster to erupt because of a rookie error!

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